The Biggest Letdown in the History of NaLu Ships
by AdminMeredyFiction
Summary: Lucy has no food, Natsu stinks, and Happy's the only one gettin' some action in terms of love lives... Seriously, how do I deal with writer's block...? Q u Q


_Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and its characters. All rights reserved to Hiro Mashima. :D Enjoy~_

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**The Biggest Letdown in the History of NaLu Ships**

In the streets of Magnolia's public market, where all the busy people in this time of the day went to, Lucy Heartfilia went browsing through store after store. The blonde was stocking up on food because a certain Dragon Slayer and his pet cat had been going around her house and literally eating her out of house and home. If they keep this is up, she will have no choice but to go on high-ranking jobs just to pay her rent _and_ keep their stomachs full. She walked the busy streets with Plue right beside her, occasionally making that small noise he does to know that she wasn't alone in fretting and worrying about her financial status.

"Oh, what am I gonna do with those two…?" She asked herself. She was carrying a paper bag filled to the brim. It was quite heavy, so when a young man about her age offered to help her out, she and him walked together back to her home.

"Those two had been eating me out of house and home ever since I got here, and they're not even sorry about it!" She continued rambling as the guy beside her kept an innocent smile. "I mean, they should at least be more considerate to the person living in the actual apartment, but NO! They just barge in whenever they want and start chewing on fish and meat! Ugh, it's so frustrating, right?!" She turned to the man beside her, glaring and making him yelp. The man had let go of the paper bag he had been holding, and it almost fell to the ground, much to Lucy's shock. But before she could react, a ball of blue fur suddenly flew past her and took the paper bag before it hit the ground. It flew past her again and landed in the arms of the person she was ranting about. That lopsided grin was ever present in his face as he walked towards Lucy. The young man apologized to the blonde, and she told him it was okay and left, continuing her journey back to her home with Natsu and Happy this time.

"Yo, Lucy," Natsu called as he stopped a few feet from her. "Who was that guy, a friend of yours?" He asked looking at the retreating person's back with a raised eyebrow. The blonde shook her head and sighed.

"He just offered to help me out on my groceries since they were too many…" She said. "You weren't around, and I can't really leave it and go back, so I let him."

"Huh… Well okay, then…" The pink-haired Dragon Slayer said, unconsciously digging through the paper bag trying to find some meat. Happy was already inside the bag, and came out a few seconds later with fish in his paws. Lucy saw this and quickly took the fish before he could munch on it, shocking the blue-furred cat.

"Watch it, cat…" Lucy growled, annoyed. "I've bought all this food because you've been doing nothing but eat and eat and eat! My fridge never looked so empty! So don't you start eating any- Hey!" Lucy was cut off when Natsu found some meat from the paper bag he was holding, only to pout in disappointment when the blonde grabbed it from him.

"Come on, Lucy. It's not like we eat everything in your fridge…"

"Yes, you do…" Lucy scrubbed her face in annoyance. "You just don't notice it because every time you get full, you fall asleep… In _my_ bed…"

"But that's because your bed is so comfy and warm!" Happy exclaimed, trying to change to topic. "Ours is so thin and cold at night and we don't even have a blanket."

"I saw you two having a blanket before, didn't I?" She asked.

"Yeah, but Natsu never washes it. He's too lazy to do it."

"No I'm not!" Natsu retorted. "I just never learned how!" As the two bickered back and forth, Lucy sniffed the air, only to grimace at the awful smell she had found.

"What's that smell…?" She asked. "Natsu… How long have you been wearing those clothes?" Looking at the pink-haired male from top to bottom, she'd notice mud and dirt staining bits and pieces of the fabric. Natsu blinked a few times and scratched his head, being able to support the paper bags with just one hand. A moment had passed and he shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I don't know…" He said. "How long has it been since our last job?"

"You've been wearing those clothes for 3 weeks?!" Lucy screeched, covering her nose and backing away in disgust. "Come on, Natsu! You should've at least told someone to wash your clothes!"

"But I have plenty of clothes at home…" He said.

"Are they all _washed_?" Lucy asked, irritated. The pink-haired male blinked once again before shaking his head, much to the blonde's dismay. They reached Lucy's apartment, only this time Lucy didn't allow Natsu inside her house and made him wait outside. She took the paper bag in his arm and marched up her apartment, breathing in the sweet scent of her abode. The Celestial Wizard made quick work of sorting out the food contents before going back down to the Dragon Slayer. After hearing his tale, she had made a decision to help him clean his home again. He may be a pain at times, but he's her best friend and she wanted to help him from time to time. Plus, she wouldn't admit it to herself, but she was excited by the idea of spending time with the Dragon Slayer. She had never gotten to the origin of her attraction to him, but she was pretty sure it was more than just a simple crush. She blushed at the thought of the two of them spending time together cleaning his house like a married couple.

"Alright, Natsu…" She said as she opened the door. The two were playing leap frog when she saw them. "Natsu…"

"Huh? Oh yeah… What?" After seeing the blonde, he stopped hopping and stood up, asking her what the matter was.

"After thinking things through, I've decided to help you out again."

"Huh? Help me out with what?" The Dragon Slayer asked, genuinely confused. The blonde scrubbed her face gently with her hand again, sighing as she did so.

"We're going to clean your house again, okay?" She said. "But this time, you're going to help me out. The last time I did it, you made a mess out of it in seconds…"

"Oh…" Natsu gave a long, exaggerated extension of that syllable. "Okay then! Let's get started right now!" With that being said, he grabbed Lucy's hand, the latter blushing without him noticing, and began rushing back to his house, hearing an enthusiastic _"Aye, sir!"_ from Happy.

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Minutes later, they arrived at Natsu's house. He wasn't kidding when he said he didn't know how to do the laundry, that's for sure. Piles of dirty clothes and blankets littered the floor along with plastics and rotting food. There wasn't a clean spot that could give this house a glimmer of hope that it'll get cleaned. Rolling up her sleeve, she took a bold step forward, but paused as the wood creaked and released a foul-smelling stench that made Lucy's nose twitch and her body tremble, backing away a bit. But she made a resolve to help him clean this place, so she wasn't going to back out now. She stepped inside again, regretting the stench but still pressing forward.

"Natsu, help me pic up all these clothes and put them in the laundry bin, please!" She shouted, pinching her nose to avoid the smell. "Oh, this place really stinks…"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming…" Natsu said, going inside, also covering his nose. "I know. What do you think I've been doing staying at your house for this past week?"

"I thought you were just there to make me angry…" The blonde muttered. "Anyway, let's just start cleaning this place up. The faster we finish, the faster you'll have your place back."

They went to work quickly, trying their best not to inhale any fumes of death that dare sprayed in front of them. With Natsu's help, Lucy put every clothing and blanket in the laundry bin. She'll wash them later after she finished cleaning the house. She arranged furniture, swept and mopped the floor, dusted the souvenir items the pink-haired Dragon Slayer had kept during their missions. She missed seeing the maid outfit on their very first mission. Happy had been no help because he went over to Wendy's for a tea party with her and Charles. At least the cat wasn't there to tease Lucy about spending time with Natsu. She could blush in silence as the man watched her work with utmost curiosity. She didn't look awkward as he watched her because she was already used to his eyes. But as he watched her, a gentle smile took form on Natsu's lips which Lucy didn't see.

"Finally done!" She exclaimed, victorious. The entire house was clean from top to bottom, and the only ones left were the laundry. Since it was still pretty early in the day, she decided to finish them all off now, and that meant Natsu's current clothes, too.

"Come on, Natsu, we're going to town." She said. The aforementioned male was currently bobbing his head up and down as he slept with a silly grin on his face. He woke up at the sound of Lucy's voice and asked in a dazed expression.

"Huzzah what?" He looked around, eyes wide at seeing his filthy home finally rid of dirt and grime. "Great job, Lucy!" He praised the girl, coming over to her and patting her on the shoulder. "Thanks for the help!"

"Well, it's not over yet…" She muttered, not looking at him. The skin contact made her blush, even though she was used to feeling his touch. "W-we still need to wash your clothes, so we're going to town to buy you some fresh clothes before I wash everything."

Just like that, the two of them ventured to town and went to a clothing store. Despite wanting to be quick, Lucy was very particular in choosing Natsu's wardrobe. She ended up buying him a light blue, V-neck, T-shirt with a draconic design; it was his request, a pair of dark loose jeans, a leather belt, and brand new shoes. She resisted the urge to ogle him since the T-shirt was a bit of a tight fit and it showed off his pecs and abs with little difficulty. Of course, since they were in a clothing store, she decided to buy her own set to try and match with Natsu's. She bought a same-colored blouse that was cut midriff, denim jeans, a new pair of sneakers, and another leather belt. They made it back home with little inconvenience, stopping by a café to buy some drinks, and with Natsu wearing the brand new outfit. She was getting shy around the people who were staring at them with gleeful sparkles in their eyes. It looked like they were a real couple with the way she clung to Natsu's arm the whole way back.

"This was nice, wasn't it?" Natsu asked, grinning. "Thanks for the new clothes, by the way! You're awesome!" He exclaimed, putting an arm around her. "Tell you what, how about you go and dirty your house and you stay over at my place? Then we clean up your place and I go buy you cool things, too!"

"Natsu, I'm a girl. I like to keep myself clean, so I'm afraid I have to decline that offer…" She said, stepping inside his already clean house. "Besides, if you wanted to treat me, you can do it without those other things. It could just be the two of us enjoying a day together. No cleaning, no laundry, just us…"

Lucy was just talking to herself at this point, practically letting out her feelings by accident in that little monologue. She unloaded the laundry and began to work on it, letting Natsu watch her again.

"Then why don't we do that?" Nastu asked, going near her and crouching beside her. Lucy looked at him with a confused expression, and for the first time today, she saw a gentle smile across his face.

"W-what are you talking about?" She asked, blushing pink and avoiding eye contact.

"What you just said earlier…" Natsu clarified. "I'll go buy you stuff and treat you to meals and junk. It'll just be the two of us, won't that be fun?"

"U-uh, yeah…" The blonde muttered. Inside, her heart was beating three times as fast, trying to hide the fact that Natsu, in a way, directly asked her to go on a date with him. She might be taking it over the top since Natsu was really incapable of understanding romance, but that's what it sounded to her.

"How about we go tomorrow?" He asked. His excitement grew even more when Lucy nodded her head in response. Since the whole scuffle, Natsu had been watching Lucy more closely, just grinning and shaking his head every time the blonde asked him why. Still, the laundry went without a hitch, and thanks to Natsu's magic, everything was dry, folded, and sent to the drawers. Lucy left Natsu's house with her heart pounding and her stomach full of butterflies. She couldn't believe that she and Natsu were going out on a date tomorrow. Well, he didn't really mention it, but she didn't really mind.

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Tomorrow came, and Natsu was ready for their _just the two of them activity_. He was wearing his usual clothes and was waiting for her by South Magnolia Gate Park. He told her to meet him there in the afternoon, which was right now. He'd been waiting for over an hour, but he was sure she was running late because she's probably choosing the right outfit for her today. He convinced himself that that was the reason as to why girls are running late. Well, at least he thought it was.

Almost four hours had passed since his initial one-hour wait. He fell asleep during the gap, but it was okay since Lucy didn't show up at all. Frustrated and a little disappointed, he left the park and headed to her apartment.

"What gives…?" He asked himself. "I did everything Erza told me to… She told me to be casual about asking her out to keep her comfortable, and she said yes, too…" His eyes narrowed at a couple walking down the sidewalk, envious of their sweet moments. For some reason, he had begun to look at Lucy differently. He also began to feel urges whenever Lucy would do something provocative out of the blue, so he had to keep his distance every time that happened. He would feel his heart beating quicker every time she became happy because of something he did, and almost everything about their friendship intensified. Wanting some advice, he went to Erza last week, and she confirmed that he what he was feeling was indeed love. And that was what led him to ask Lucy out yesterday. It was his only chance since they were alone together, so he was really excited that she said yes, only to get his hopes crushed by her not showing up.

As he walked drowning in melancholy, he finally happened upon Lucy's apartment. He climbed up the windows to see what Lucy had been up to the whole day that made her forget about their supposed-to-be date, only to be surprised to see her still sleeping in bed. She must have been really tired helping Natsu out with the housework yesterday. She hadn't even moved an inch when the Dragon Slayer accidentally slammed his foot on the floor. Natsu shook his head in self-pity. He shouldn't have been disappointed in Lucy after all. He stared at her sleeping form, from the little puffs of breath she makes every time she delve deeper into her dreamland, to the gentle rising and falling of her chest. He thought over and over if he should wake her up or not, but decided not to and just cuddle beside her. He knew she would kick him in the face for this, but he didn't mind.

Natsu lied down beside her and put an arm around her, bringing her a little closer to him. When he moved her, she began to mumble and giggle.

"N-Natsu… Stop it… Ice cream…" She mumbled with a soft giggle at the end. Natsu was a bit surprised at that, and a faint blush appeared across his cheeks. He smiled, hugging Lucy closer and snuggling against her hair, also slowly feeling the exhaustion of waiting for her and the comfort of the warm bed with the presence of Lucy adding up to it. Soon, he joined her in deep slumber, mouthing a silent _I love you_ as he fell asleep.

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**The End~**

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_A/N: Yes, I know it's lame… ; - ; It's the best thing I could come up with during a writer's block… Please don't kill me…_


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